US announces closure of Palestinian mission in Washington

Stevicus said:

Why would they launch war after war? I mean, I'm trying to be fair to both sides here, but let's face it: The land in question has had many occupiers over the centuries. The British managed to acquire it after WW1 because the Ottoman Empire was among the losers in that war. It didn't really belong to the British except by force of arms; they're not indigenous to that territory. Did the British or the French or the UN have any right to declare who should get what land? Or was it just a case of might makes right?

Of course, I guess one could make the case that the Arabs were terribly outmatched and had no chance at winning. If they were smart, they would have made a deal, but maybe they're stupid. But that doesn't mean they're wrong for fighting over land they genuinely believed was theirs. One might make the case that Geronimo and his followers were equally stupid to wage a war they had no chance of winning.

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ChristineM said:

Nope, it hardly relevant to the abuse of humanity being systematically being metered out.

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Stevicus said:

Why would they launch war after war? I mean, I'm trying to be fair to both sides here, but let's face it: The land in question has had many occupiers over the centuries.

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Duke_Leto said:

What, so since Israel was once ruled by Turks, it belongs to the Arabs now? To use your analogy, this would be as if Geronimo ruled an independent state in the southwest U.S. before deciding to invade Alabama. Oh, and as if the U.S. never began any war with Native Americans.

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Stevicus said:

That's your perception.

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Stevicus said:

Then perhaps it might be better if you asked for clarification rather than cavalierly pronouncing judgment. Your posts seem to carry more melodrama and condescension than any apparent "scholarship."

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Stevicus said:

Of course, you're free to put me on ignore, since that seems to be your M.O. around here, but it would be your loss, not mine.

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The Emperor of Mankind said:

Last time I checked, the Arabs were among those occupiers.

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The Emperor of Mankind said:

It's completely relevant. By closing the border and restricting the flow of people & materials the Egyptian Government is enforcing the blockade just like Israel.

But literally nobody complains when the Egyptians do it.

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Stevicus said:

Were they occupiers? Or were they indigenous to the territory in question?

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ChristineM said:

I do not condone the action but if Israel were not forcing people out then Egypt would not have had to act so.

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Lyndon said:

Arabs originated in Palestine, read your Bible, Abrahams son, first Arab

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1. Is not an accredited history book;
2. Holds about as much truth-value as the Chronicles of Narnia to a non-Abrahamic like myself.

Lyndon said:

The arabs weren't the occupiers of Palestine, they were the native inhabitants

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The Emperor of Mankind said:

And if Hamas were not still intent on wiping out Israel then Israel would not have to put up a blockade to limit the amount of harm to Israeli civilians.

Is anybody being forced by Israel to leave the Gaza Strip? I thought the whole point of it was they weren't being allowed to leave. The reason the Egyptians have closed the border is because the likes of Islamic Jihad and Hamas continue to destabilise an area along their border.

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The Emperor of Mankind said:

Occupiers because the Arabs are native to Arabia.

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ChristineM said:

Swings and roundabouts with the wiping out. Steal land, treat like animals, people react.

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Stevicus said:

All the territories around there are/were Arabic-speaking - Syria, Egypt, Jordan. The names, boundaries, and political status might have changed over the centuries, but the people have been there all along.

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Lyndon said:

but they originated in Palestine, at least thats what their records claim.

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The Emperor of Mankind said:

But not for most of human history. The Arab invasions were quite recent - only in the last 1400 years or so.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica entry on Arabs

"Arab, Arabic singular masculine ʿArabī, singular feminine ʿArabiyyah, plural ʿArab, one whose native language is Arabic. (See also Arabic language.) Before the spread of Islam and, with it, the Arabic language, Arab referred to any of the largely nomadic Semitic inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula. In modern usage, it embraces any of the Arabic-speaking peoples living in the vast region from Mauritania, on the Atlantic coast of Africa, to southwestern Iran, including the entire Maghrib of North Africa, Egypt and Sudan, the Arabian Peninsula, and Syria and Iraq."

The Arabs are not native to Israel and their culture & ethnicity moved into that region over time. They moved into the land we now call Israel due to the military expansionism of the early Islamic caliphates.

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